Tag: shark

Losing your baby teeth is a normal part of growing up.
It typically happens between 5-7 years of age, to make room for the incoming adult teeth.
The permanent tooth buds are located above and below the baby teeth, and they push against the roots of the baby teeth causing them to fall out. This process also helps to guide the permanent teeth into the proper position.
It would look a little scary if we could see inside our skulls during the development of our permanent teeth.
But nature doesn't always go according to expectations.
Zak Brown, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is known to his friends as "Jaws."
He's a sweet kid, and loves soccer like his peers, but while his brother and sister cashed in from the Tooth Fairy, Zak's permanent teeth began to emerge behind his baby teeth.
The condition is known as pediatric shark teeth, and can affect as many as one in 10 children although few cases are as striking as Zak's.
It doesn't hurt, and he has no trouble eating, although it has started to affect his speech, and he has to take extra care to maintain both sets of teeth. He finally lost a tooth, but will need orthodontic care to remove the rest. He will most likely need braces correct his bite.
For now, he has to wait until he moves up on the waiting list to see the orthodontist.

Discovered in the womb of its mother, an endangered dusky shark, which was caught in the Gulf of California, was a near full term fetus.
The shark had the condition is known as cyclopia, a rare congenital disorder characterised by the failure of the front portion of the brain to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities.

It's extremely rare for a creature with this abnormality to develop so fully.

Most people don't have time to think about it when they lose a limb.
A brief moment of distraction or carelessness is all it takes. A lawnmower can be just as dangerous ...
... as farm machinery.
A day at the beach can turn bloody.
And so can a Sunday drive.
For these people, the sudden loss of a limb was unexpected and unpleasant. It might cause you to wonder what went through the mind of a Bellingham, WA man who cut off his own arm. According to the City of Bellingham police report:
Bellingham police were called to a medical clinic in the 300 block of Birchwood Avenue late Thursday morning after a man walked into the clinic with a severed right arm. Employees from the clinic called for an ambulance and police.Statements made by the man to police indicate that the injury was self inflicted.Officers checked a wooded area near the clinic and discovered a camp believed to be the temporary home of the individual. At the camp, officers located the severed arm and a homemade Guillotine.The arm was transported to the hospital in the hopes it could be reattached. The Guillotine will be dismantled.The condition of the victim is not known at this time only that he was being airlifted to Harborview in Seattle for further treatment.
The elaborately constructed guillotine appeared to be made from discarded items, and appeared to be very effective.
The man has not explained his reason for amputating his arm. BPD Public Information Officer Mark Young revealed, "We suspect he was suffering from mental issues."

One of the things that makes sharks so fierce is that they have multiple rows of teeth.
Sometimes it affects kids too. It usually resolves itself when permanent teeth replace baby teeth.
About 10% of all kids experience this, but it usually only lasts a couple of weeks at most.
The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow hosts the Bryce Skulls, a collection of 13 skulls that were excavated by Professor Thomas Hastie Bryce. The majority of the skulls were excavated by Bryce on his expedition to Arran in 1900. One of the skulls is particularly unusual.
It's a child's skull with adult teeth coming in. Because the condition disappears so quickly, no other skulls have been found in that part of the world in this state.

In Fish Story we read about a fisherman that caught a coyote. A fisherman in New Providence, Nassau, Bahamas, hooked his fish along with a bonus catch. He thought he had caught a tiger shark that had just eaten another fish.

Then he noticed the human leg poking out of the shark's mouth. Feeling certain that the victim wasn't a mermaid or other sea creature, the fisherman turned the shark over to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.

They cut its belly open to reveal more body parts that were clearly human - a leg, an arm and what appears to be a rib cage. There was no head. Authorities are uncertain as to whether the victim was attacked and eaten by the shark, or whether he drowned.

Although the body was partially decomposed and digested, officials concluded from the remains that the victim was a heavy-set black man.

A week earlier, a boat reported engine trouble while offshore, and hasn't been heard from since. It's thought that the victim might have been part of the crew.

Tiger sharks are voracious eaters and are considered to be the scavengers of the shark world. License plates and boat parts are among the things that have been found in their stomachs.

My friend went surfing for his first time in California this year. I was never a very strong swimmer and would probably be too tired paddling out to enjoy the ride in. He's a natural in the water and will be ready to ride a tidal wave his next time out.
Surfing takes a lot of physical ability and coordination, and it's safer than a lot of other sports, like base jumping, skydiving, or cave diving. But there are still a few dangers.
Skiers have been critically injured after being hit by other skiers. Skydivers have fallen to their deaths after hitting another skydiver or getting parachutes tangled. Sometimes the most dangerous part of a sport is the other participants.
At age 10, Pascal Dattler is an experienced surfer. But he was critically injured surfing The Pass at Byron Bay in NSW, Australia last Friday when his skull was shattered by the stray surfboard of an inexperienced surfer.

Pascal was helped to shore by the errant board rider and assisted by lifesaver Kurt Tutt. He was bleeding profusely from head injuries. “I’ve been a lifesaver for 14 years and this was the worst injury I’ve seen in the surf,” Mr Tutt said.
Pascal’s mother, Tara, drove him to Byron Bay Hospital, where he was immediately transferred by ambulance to Tweed Heads for a CT scan. He was then transported by emergency ambulance to the neurosurgery ward of the Mater Hospital in Brisbane and prepared for surgery
Eight pieces of fractured bone were pushing towards Pascal’s brain, the protective lining to the brain was torn and there was an 18cm cut to the bone along the right side of his head. Surgeons screwed seven metal plates to the boy’s skull, which will remain with him for life.
“His life has certainly changed forever,” said Pascal's father, Thomas Dattler. “One of the doctors told us just one more centimetre and he would have been dead.”
The second biggest danger to surfers is sharks. Like the surfer itself, the inexperienced ones are the biggest danger. Sharks don't really want to eat people, but if you look like a tasty treat they're going to act just like a dog: Eat it, and then decide whether it was food.
If you're lucky, the shark will figure it out fast and go away.
Sharks have terrible eyesight, which increases your chance of avoiding injury.
If the shark gets closer, it can be gruesome.
It's hard to believe such a cuddly creature can produce such horrific injuries.

Jonothon Beard lost a chunk from his leg at Fingal Head beach in NSW, Australia, but survived the attack.

What can you do to avoid horrific injury if you encounter a shark? Some people think you should just punch them in the snout.

But that gets you too close to the sharp pointy parts. You can blow up the shark.

Apparently it makes them much friendlier. But you might not have the necessary equipment on hand to blow it up.

You could jump the shark like Fonzie did, and the shark will soon be cancelled.

But the best advice for avoiding sharks comes from Seb Thorne, whose father David publishes the 27b/6 blog:

Swimming

"If you swim in the sea then you should always go swimming with a fat girl because sharks will go for them first."